Jojie's confined in the hospital :(

It had been a really loooong day. We are here at the Phil. Heart Center where Jojie is confined right now.

Overview:
Jojie had a few episodes of not being able to move his legs when he would wake up. He said it's just gout and that his Kuya also had it. He further said that I shouldn't worry because he would be okay in a couple of hours. Kahit anong pilit ko that we should go to the doctor, walang nangyayari. He would agree while his muscles ache but when once he's okay, he would ocnveniently forget our visit to the doctor.
This week and Thursday:

Last Sunday, We checked in at the Linden SUites and stayed there up to Wednesday. After that, we transferred to Astoria Plaza naman, supposedly for just one night and check out again the following day, Thursday. When we woke up Thursday morning, Jojie's couldn't move his legs and arms because of pain. His back also ached. Since we assumed from experience that he would be okay in a couple of hours, we were not too alarmed. I informed the front desk that we would be staying for another night. Jojie and I just stayed in the room waiting for him to be okay. We just watched news and a James Bond movie. As the day progressed, his condition got worse. I went to a nearby
drugstore to buy liniment but it didn't do any good. Early evening, my mom and Dindon, my brother, went to Astoria since my mom needed to print a file from my computer. Everything was okay. We had dinner delivered since Jojie nga couldn't move. As the night wore on, my mom got more worried and decided that would sleep over. Around 10:15pm, Mama called our family's doctor, Tita Normie. Tita Normie has been our family's cardiologist for years now. Siya na nga rin ang doctor ng Daddy ni Jojie. Galing na, ang bait pa. She asked for the symptoms and prescribed two pain relievers, a mild one and a strong one. Jojie's supposed to take the mild one first then if it doesn't relieve the pain, yung malakas naman after an hour. Tita Normie also said that Jojie should have MRI as soon as he can move. Mama and Dindon went to the nearest Mercury Drug to buy the meds. They got back at 11pm na. Gave JOjie the mild pain reliever and waited for an hour for the pain to subside. Nung hindi pa, gave him the strong med and went to sleep na. That was past 12 midnight and I was pretty confident that he would be okay in the morning.


Today:
Woke up at 4pm. No improvement. I was so scared. The possibility of this being something to do with the spinal cord kept crossing my mind. Went to the bedroom, curled up beside Mama (they slept in the room while Jojie and I slept on the floor at the living room), and cried my heart out. I couldn't imagine how life would be like if something happens to Jojie. Mom consoled me, said that everything would be okay and they would be there to help us. She knew how scared I was. We agreed that we would go to the hospital as soon as possible.

She called Tita Normie at 5:30am. Tita advised us to go to the Heart Center asap (this is where Tita has her clinic). Mama arranged for the Heart Center ambulance to pick us up but the ambulance would be available at 8am pa. We then scouted for other ambulance services and thankfully, we found one which can pick us up immediately.

Prepared Jojie for the hospital. Syempre and asawa ko, ang primary concern was Dindon would be late for school. When I toldhim that we'd be going to the hospital, he replied, "Hon, hindi pa ako nakakalakad. Pano tayo makakaalis dito?" Didn't tell him that an ambulance was on the way kasi hindi siya papayag.

Mama helped me fix our things. She was also the one who went to the front desk to check out and settle the bill. My only problem was the car. Since I'd be riding in the ambulance, I needed someone to drive the car to Heart Center. I scanned my phone book. All my friends have 8 to 5 work and I was hesitant to ask them to go to Astoria to get the car. I needed someone who (a) had a business of his/her own, (b) had no work for the day, (c) had a driver, or (d) worked but with a flexi-time sched. I had three people in my shortlist. Victor, Jojie's friend from college; Jonathan, my friend from high school; and Abie, my friend from W@W. Called Victor several times but since he is in the liquor shop business, he usually goes to bed at 3am; thus, it was not surprise that he was still sleeping. Called JOnathan. Was so surprised that he was awake. He said he could do it but after lunch
pa. Jonathan manages their family's hotel so I'm sure his schedule was also full. Told Jonathan that I'd call him if I don't get to contact another friend who can do it earlier. Then I called Abie. She
would normally still be sleeping that early in the morning so I was so surprised when she picked the phone with, take note, a very alert voice. Told her the situation and asked if she could help me with the car. She said she would send Mang Al, her driver, to get the car at Astoria and to bring it to Heart Center. Good old Abie! Super, super, super thank you talaga, sis!

The ambulance got there after a while. It was my first ambulance ride and hopefully, my last.

When we arrived at the ER, Jojie was examined and re-examined by the doctors present. Various lab tests were done to ascertain the cause of his paralysis. By then, he could move his legs about two inches from the bed. Tita Normie arrived and gave us a preliminary diagnosis. Familial Periodic Paralysis. She had to go kaagad so she just assured us that everything would be fine. A spinal cord problem had been ruled out so we're okay na.

Jojie had to be admitted so we had to wait for a vacant room. The waiting line for a room at the Heart Center is notoriously long so I braced myself for the wait.

Jonathan texted me, cOnfirmed my new surname and asked me to look for his sister who's probably on duty that time. Since I didn't really know his sister, nahiya naman ako to just look for her out of the blue. After half an hour, someone called my name, it was Jen, Jonathan's sister. Siya pa yung bumaba sa ER to look for us. She explained what Familial Periodic Paralysis meant; Jojie had low levels of potassium which resulted in the loss of muscle strength. She said that the next step would be to determinewhat causes the low potassium level. It might be a kidney or a thyroid problem.
The best thing was Jen helped us get a room. We were number 3 in the list. Thank goodness she was there or else, goodness knows how long we would wait for a room.

Abie arrived to keep us company. She had Mang Al drop her off at the hospital then she gave Mang Al instructions to retrieve the car from Astoria.

We were given a room around 11am. Buti na lang sa ground floor lang. I really like this hospital. Maganda, maluwag, efficient ang staff, and the price is very reasonable. Abie stayed with us na until afternoon. She just worked on her cases using her phone and Jojie's laptop. :)

Went home in the afternoon to bring all our stuff from the 5 nights hotel stay (ang dami nun!) and to check on our place na rin. I got so sad when I entered our door. To think that just a couple of days ago, Jojie and I were joking that it'd be nice to not go home and just live in Linden forever. Now, I just want to go home as long as Jojie were with me.

Went back to the hospital after fixing our place. I passed by the supermarket to buy some supplies and Jollibee Pinoy Burger Steak for Jojie. Also bought him this month's FHM to keep him busy. I still
needed to run a few errands for clients but I learned that Jojie has a headache so I rushed back to the hospital. Dr. Esguerra, the cardiologist of Jojie's HMO, dropped by in my absence. He said that
the problem was most likely caused by a thyroid problem.

Right now, Jojie and I are just waiting for the visit of his sister. She'd be dropping by anytime now and she has the medicine for Jojie's headache (the medicine they prescribed for the headache was not available in the hospital pharmacy so I had to ask her to bring it since I couldn't very well go and leave Jojie alone).

It had been a really long day. At least Jojie's leg and arm movements have been steadily improving since he was given potassium so I'm not as worried anymore. I just hope they determine the real cause behind all these soon.